The "World's Least Thunderous Person": Another Look at Philip Roth's "Conversion of the Jews"

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The Hebrew schoolboy protagonist Ozzie Freedman dominates Philip Roth's early story "The Conversion of the Jews" (1959). But the plot and significance of "Conversion" ultimately depend upon the actions of the practically invisible synagogue custodian, Yakov Blotnik. Ozzie, embroiled in a conflict with his teacher Rabbi Binder over a theological question, flees to the synagogue rooftop after an altercation during Hebrew School. From his rooftop vantage, Ozzie ultimately commands a crowd of assembled onlookers to vindicate him, lest he jump. Through the ensuing critical actions of Blotnik, Ozzie survives, leaping into the fireman's wide net toward rescue. The story is layered with meaning, and Blotnik is more than simply Ozzie's rescuer and custodian of the synagogue. He is keeper of Holocaust memory and symbolic guardian of the core of Jewish law and life, pikuach nefesh, which dictates that Jews' primary concern be life; for Jews, a law is to be ignored if life is at stake.